There has been a recent re-emphasis on the importance of beauty and quality art in the Church, including the creation of a collaborative group called Catholic Creatives, the brainchild of brothers Marcellino and Anthony D'Ambrosio. Many of the artists and creators in the book, including Heimann, are part of the group.
Good art is important in the Church, Heimann said, because it is the first thing that can attract and invite modern man into a deeper conversation.
He said that Bishop Robert Barron of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles explains on his page that using beauty to draw someone to the Church is like taking a kid to a baseball game to inspire him to play baseball, rather than just telling him all the rules.
"You take him to a game, let him smell the smells and watch the players, and he will desire and ask how to play the game. Good art does that for the Church, it draws us in to ask for the truth. We don't abandon the truth, but we do lead with beauty," Heimann said.
He added that he hopes the book will inspire people to continue creating, and will help them see how the act of creating could lead them closer to God, and ultimately answer the question, "Why bother with beauty?"
"I think this book will (show) those that wrestle with being too artsy for their Catholic friends and too Catholic for their artsy friends that they have a place in the Church, and that their passions and desires are needed. I hope that it will help people to not turn inwardly in their creating but instead turn toward the ultimate creator."
The 9x9-inch book features a full-sized color photo or work of art from each collaborator, as well as their first five words and a brief reflection on how their art leads them to God. The book's beauty also has the potential to draw in people who might not consider God as part of their creative process, Heimann noted.
"We never intended it, but I think this turned out to be one of the best evangelization books for the right-brained," he said. "The average person reads two books a year, but this book doesn't fall into that problem. It's a book where you flip through a bit, you read a page, then another and all of a sudden you've read the whole book."
The project has already seen impressive success – within two days of launching the book's kickstarter fundraising page, the project had already surpassed its goal of $7,000, with more than $10,000 pledged by a total of 218 backers.
Mary Farrow worked as a staff writer for Catholic News Agency until 2020. She has a degree in journalism and English education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.